Wednesday, May 4, 2016

MAD Events follows up a fantastic 7th year of the Long Beach Comic Expo with a return to the Garden State! The first ever Anime Fan Fest comes to Garden State Exhibition Center in Somerset New Jersey May 6-8th, 2016 with MAD's special brand of geek-centric entertainment, bringing creators and fans together for two days of celebration of manga, anime and Asian culture.

"After producing countless events celebrating comics and pop culture, and our first convention in New Jersey having been such a success, we decided the time was right to produce an Anime show" said Martha Donato, Executive Director and Founder of MAD Events. Teaming with OTAKU USA Magazine, fans can expect a star-studded guest list of voice actors and cosplayers complimenting a full show floor packed with artists, designers and vendors catering to your every nerdy dream. Show highlights include...

Aaron Mitchell Dismuke- Voice Actor (Alphonse Elric in Fullmetal Alchemist, Over 100 roles from Fruits Baskets to Hetalia and beyond) Currently also writing and directing at FUNimation

Bonnie Gordon- Voice Actress (Rainbow Mika in Street Fighter V and Soujin in Ikki Tousen) Bonnie also appeared on ABC's fantasy series The Quest

Tommy Yune- President of Animation at Harmony Gold USA, co-writer and director of Robotech: Shadow Chronicles. Widely known for his art work on Speed Racer.

Ani-Mia- Cosplayer and writer for Otaku USA Magazine

Jesse Pridemore- Cosplayer (aka AnimeAngel or RuffleButt), 16 year veteran of the cosplay community and character model for some of the biggest companies in the anime and gaming industry

Jez Roth- Cosplayer and representative for the USA at IOEA

Yuffie Bunny - Cosplayer, clothing designer and professional model

A Robotech Spotlight Series with multiple panels throughout the weekend including the official Robotech Industry Panel, the latest developments in the Robotech universe, from awesome new products to the live action film in development at Sony Pictures. Tommy Yune, President of Animation at Harmony Gold USA will be joined by Jonathan Brands to reflect on the development of Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles.

Bandai/Namco will be setting up shop with demos of new video games!

Further programming details and our full events schedule is available HERE!